Learning PHP: A Gentle Introduction

According to Netcraft, PHP overtook Microsoft's ASP as the most popular web scripting language back in the spring of 2002. And PHP has continued its explosive growth ever since. Today, when the Apache web server powers nearly 70% of all sites on the Internet and its closest competitor, Microsoft's IIS, has a market share of just over 20%, PHP is far and away the most widely used server-side scripting language. Just what is it that makes PHP so popular?

Pletcher, Thomas. Community MX. Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>PHP

Lengthen Your Planning and Shorten Your Text

Writing for the Web requires your old skills, but you must change your approach and alter the writing process.

Writing that Works (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Lessons from the Medical Community: Physicians Access Patient Information via PDAs

Genesys, a system of medical care facilities in central Michigan, has introduced an innovative way to couple emerging mobile communication technology with sophisticated medical care. Recently, the hospital system introduced the use of hand-held wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) by physicians in its 440-bed system, which is made up of three local hospitals merged into one.

Ficorelli, Cindy. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Information Design>Wireless Web>Biomedical

Lessons Learned from Usability Testing Web Pages  

This session brings you actual case studies and specific advice based on 'lessons learned' from usability tests of Web sites.

Redish, Janice C. 'Ginny', Janet R. Borggren, Meghan R. Ede and Laurie A. Roshak. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Web Design>Usability

Let's Learn How Not To Mess Up With Your Web Site Content

Every web site is conceived and designed keeping in view a particular purpose to serve. The aim of web site may vary: some web site intends to showcase products or services of the company it belongs to, some provides information to its target audience, or some just exposes its company on the web in a brand building exercise. This is to note that whatever be the nature of web site, web copy plays it own crucial role in furthering the interest of the site. It is imperative that web content is easy-to-read, easy-to-find, and easy-to-understand.

Azam, Rahbre. Insider Reports, The (2008). Articles>Web Design>Content Management>Usability

Leveraging AJAX and JSON using Dojo Tool Kit

This article shows how AJAX calls are made using the JavaScript extensions developed by the Dojo foundation to retrieve data using the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)and displaying the results on the browser.

Krishnaswamy, Jayaram. ASPAlliance (2007). Articles>Computing>Web Design>JavaScript

Leveraging Collaborative Environments

Meet Scott, age 28, with a Dunkin' Donuts cup costume, a web site, a MySpace page and an archive of compelling brand content that, by the way, happens to rank number four in a Google search for the brand name. Scott is among the legions of brand enthusiasts who are knocking down the walls of the traditional "us versus them" brand relationship, demanding to be let in and be a part of the brand experience.

Key, Rob. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Social Networking

Review: Lift NNg Edition

If you are serious about getting your web site accessible, you need to get the right tools for the job. Can Lift for Dreamweaver deliver the goods?

Accessify (2003). Articles>Reviews>Accessibility>Web Design

Link List Color on Intranets

Lists of links are an intermediate case between content-embedded links and menu items. Showing listed links in blue or in the site's main link color is the recommended design — and the one most intranets follow.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Color

Link Location That Works

Where to put links on a web page? That's a standard dilemma for content writers. Best to establish a policy and make sure all writers on your site follow it. That has an added advantage of standardising the 'look' of your pages.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Hypertext>Writing

Link Popularity

For years, 'link popularity' and 'Google PageRank' have been the talk of the town in the search engine optimization community. However, the definition of link popularity and how it differs from PageRank (PR), as well as how much effect these actually have on search engine rankings, is often misunderstood.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Linking in XHTML 2.0

As a fundamental part of the Web, hypertext linking has been the subject of repeated attempts at standardization beyond the basic format allowed in simple HTML. Such attempts can be characterized as efforts to balance machine processing ability with authoring convenience. The latest specification in this area, XHTML 2.0, just might have gotten it right.

Dubinko, Micah. IBM (2005). Articles>Web Design>Standards>XHTML

Linking to Pages or Destinations Within PDFs

Information about how to link to pages or specific bookmarks within a PDF document.

Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2004). Articles>Web Design>Hypertext>Adobe Acrobat

Links  

Linking means that users will select and click on a hypertext link on a starting page (usually the homepage), which then causes a new page to load. Users continue toward their goal by finding and clicking on subsequent links. To ensure that links are effectively used, designers should use meaningful link labels (making sure that link names are consistent with their targets), provide consistent clickability cues (avoiding misleading cues), and designate when links have been clicked. Whenever possible, designers should use text for links rather than graphics. Text links usually provide much better information about the target than do graphics.

Usability.gov (2006). Articles>Web Design>Hypertext

Listen To Me, Not Jakob Nielsen

A response to Jakob Nielsen's 2007 "Write Articles, Not Blog Postings." Nielsen's article is also chock-full of bad information. Why bad? Because most of it is made up. The length of the article requires you to really read it. You can't scan it. The problem is, most people scan online.

Oliphant, Matthew. Usabilityworks.org (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

Living Multiple Lives — The New Technical Communicator

In this podcast, Noz Urbina talks about how Web 2.0 is changing the role of the technical communicator into one who drives product R&D and interaction design. The interview covers how the role of the technical communicator has evolved into a diversity of roles; how awareness of user needs and requirements allows technical communicators to get involved in product R&D and user interaction design; and how implementing a backwards flow of data from hundreds of internal and external users changes the role of a technical writer to one who aggregates, synthesizes, and ensures quality rather than one who merely writes.

Urbina, Noz and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Interaction Design

Local Input Critical for Global Web Content Success

Let's face it. People on the web are only out for themselves. They come to your site, and you have a time window of less than 30 seconds to convince them to stay.

Iler, Huiping. WTB Language Group (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Localizing for Mobile Devices: A Primer

The mobile world and localization: designing for mobile communications; small screens; screens of various types; keyboards versus styluses; operating systems for mobile devices; proper internationalization is necessary.

LISA (2001). Articles>Language>Localization>Web Design

Location-Based Wireless Web Applications  

Imagine that you’re at an amusement park with your children when, in an unguarded moment, the four-year-old wanders away. Today, you would hunt frantically for your missing child. Soon, however, you’ll be able to go to a security office where someone will display your missing child’s location on a map by tracking a cell phone or GPS (Global Positioning System) chip that you rented for the day and strapped to your child’s ankle. Science fiction? Prodgenious (www.prodgenious.com) has offered this service since the summer of 2000.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2001). Articles>Web Design>Wireless Web

Log Analysis - A Brief Overview

Log files are text files which can range in size from 1KB to 100MB, depending on the traffic at a given a web site. Webmeisters measure traffic by the number of hits or accesses their site receives in a duration of time.

Rubin, Jeffrey. Florida State University (1996). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Log Analysis

Long or Short Copy? Part 1

I've alternatively praised both long and short copy. In some columns, I have extolled the personal touch you can achieve through longer, more conversational text. In others I have pointed out that short, active text is your best bet for directing readers and maximizing conversion rates. There's no real contradiction here. Sometimes long copy will do the best job for you; other times you'll be better off using short copy.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Long vs. Short Articles as Content Strategy

Information foraging shows how to calculate your content strategy's costs and benefits. A mixed diet that combines brief overviews and comprehensive coverage is often best.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

Low Bandwidth and the Highs of Web Design

The emergence of Internet was, and still is a fascinating thing to happen in technology firmament. The ease and the comforts of connecting to people, defying geographical boundaries, and getting a global audience for businesses were unparalleled -- first of its kind ever. So wonderful a thing has, unfortunately, got its share of woes -- the connection speed. The bandwidth of Internet connectivity was considerable at the time when it was entirely new to the world. The newness of the medium did not let it know to the excited lots of users and beneficiaries. Gradually, when people wished for more speed, they earnestly expected that things will turn favorable in the times ahead. Strategy is not something entirely applicable to chart out the direction of a corporation. Yeah, Your web design has to be strategized as well if you wish to serve your target audience in business friendly manner.

Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Technical Writing>User Centered Design

Make Ajax Development Easier with AjaxTags

Developers and users have much higher expectations for the usability and responsiveness of Web-based applications in the Web 2.0 era. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two years, you've likely heard of Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (the Ajax technique). Ajax allows you to build slick, responsive, and highly dynamic browser-based user interfaces without requiring browser page reloads. This article takes a look at AjaxTags, a Java/JavaScript Library that lets you easily integrate Ajax functionality into your JSP pages.

Wintschel, Daniel. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Ajax

Make Each Paragraph Short

People are more likely to read a short passage of text than a long one, especially if they have to make an extra effort, like scrolling, to do it. Onscreen text is more difficult and time consuming to read than hardcopy text, which makes people even less likely to thoroughly read long sections of text on a computer.

Communication Circle, The (1998). Articles>Web Design>Writing